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A Moment Like This
A Moment Like This is Kelly Clarkson's debut single after winning "American Idol." It was released on September 17, 2002 as a double A-side along with the song "Before Your Love." The song became Kelly's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It was later featured on her debut album Thankful. Song Background The song was co-written by Jörgen Elofsson and John Reid (of dance act Nightcrawlers) and produced by Stephen Ferrera and Steve Mac. It was written to be the first single for the winner of the first season of "American Idol." As a result, the four remaining finalists: Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini, Nikki McKibbin and Tamyra Gray each recorded a version of the song in case he or she won. The song was first revealed to the public when Justin and Kelly competed in a final showdown while singing this song (along with another track "Before Your Love"). After the American public had voted, Justin performed the song (and Kelly performed "Before Your Love") at the final show before the results were revealed. When Kelly was announced as the winner, she became emotional and sang the song as her final performance on the show. "Before Your Love", was also given to radio and had a video shot, which debuted on MTV's TRL before "A Moment Like This" did; however, it failed to achieve the level of success of "A Moment Like This", but it shares the Gold certification as a double-a sided single. "A Moment Like This/Before Your Love" was certified gold by RIAA on October 18, 2002. As of June 4, 2009, the single has sold approximately 1,047,000 copies. On March 5, 2013, Billboard ranked the song #11 in its list of "Top 100 American Idol Hits of All Time." Music Video The music video for "A Moment Like This" has Kelly exploring an abandoned theatre. She can be seen taking the stage to sing and clips of her singing on American Idol and getting emotional when she won are also shown. Chart Performance As the first single ever from "American Idol," there was much pressure was put on "A Moment Like This" to perform well. The debut single from Will Young, the winner of Britain's "Pop Idol" (the forerunner to "American Idol") sold 1.2 million copies in its first week, becoming the fastest-selling British debut single of all time; however, critics argued that the American singles market was different from the British market. The single became a hit in the U.S., reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. It sold 236,000 in its first week. The sales of the commercial single also helped the song (as evidenced by its number-one peak on the Hot 100 Singles Sales) break records. With the release of the single, the song broke The Beatles' record for the biggest leap ever to number one, from 52, in the history of the Hot 100 Chart, a record that would stand for five years. Kelly would break the record again when her new song "My Life Would Suck Without You" jumped 96 spots from #97 to #1 in 2009. Critical Reception Entertainment Weekly editor Henry Goldblatt wrote about Kelly's performance of the song on "American Idol": "The woman whose tears during her winning rendition of A Moment Like This were so heartfelt, grown men cried along with her." David Browne, also of Entertainment Weekly, wrote: "A choir at the end of "A Moment Like This" is meant to indicate earthiness." Arion Berger of Rolling Stone wrote that that this song "signaled that Kelly might be headed toward the Mariah-Whitney-Celine radio-ballad sausage mill." Sal Cinuqemani of Slant Magazine wrote that this song is "Adult Contemporary goo." AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the song "may have been a number one hit, but it was such a staid adult contemporary tune that it suggested that her career was over before it really began, since it was not a work that played to her age or audience, and it gave her no room to grow." He also marked this song as a standout on "Thankful." Lyrics What if I told you it was all meant to be Would you believe me, would you agree? It's almost that feeling we met before So tell me that you don't think I'm crazy When I tell you love has come here and now A moment like this Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this Some people search forever for that one special kiss Oh, I can't believe it's happening to me Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this Everything changes but beauty remains Something so tender, I can't explain Well, I may be dreaming but till I awake Can't we make this dream last forever And I'll cherish all the love we share A moment like this Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this Some people search forever for that one special kiss Oh, I can't believe it's happening to me Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this Could this be the greatest love of all I wanna know that you will catch me when I fall So let me tell you this Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this Some people search forever for that one special kiss Oh, I can't believe it's happening to me Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this Oh, moment like this, moment like Oh, I can't believe it's happening to me Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this Oh, like this Ratings Videos Category:Songs Category:Singles